Hints From Heloise: Cleaning lawn furniture

Dear Heloise: I cannot find information on how to clean the newer type of resin/plastic lawn furniture. Can you offer some suggestions? — Deborah Lonick, via e-mail

Dear Heloise: I cannot find information on how to clean the newer type of resin/plastic lawn furniture. Can you offer some suggestions? — Deborah Lonick, via e-mail

Patio furniture can get black stains that look like mildew. The furniture seems dirty because dust, dirt and grime settle into the grooves or scratches and won't rinse off. You can make your own cleaning solution. You will need:

Wear rubber gloves to protect your hands, and test the solution on a small spot to be sure it doesn't harm the surface. Next, apply the mixture to the furniture with a sponge or soft brush and let it sit for a few minutes, then rinse. For everyday cleaning, use an all-purpose nonabrasive cleaner. One reader told me she used a foam bathroom cleaner and a battery-operated scrubber. After scrubbing, she simply rinsed the tables off with the hose, and the furniture looked like new. — Heloise

Dear Heloise: My husband and I returned from a trip to Aruba. Needless to say, our black suitcases were hard to identify without manhandling each one to find our little name tags. The larger ID tags I had purchased were missing. I noticed one suitcase with a child's handprints painted on and thought that our "babies'" paw prints on the suitcases would be a wonderful idea. I took a paw-print stamp, painted on silver paint and marked the suitcases to look like our pups had walked all over them. It's unique and easy to identify at the airport! — Natalie Rinker-Good, Front Royal, Va.

Dear Heloise: I have a hint for remembering when to turn mattresses and which way to turn them — October Over and April Around. This reminds me to flip the mattress over from side to side in October and to rotate it around head to foot in April. — Sharon, via e-mail

Dear Heloise: Outside trash cans can smell bad, even if all the garbage is tied in bags and the can is kept clean. So I came up with a fragrant idea that lasts several weeks. I buy room-freshener scent pads in the little cans, remove the pad, enclose it in a lunch paper sack, fold the sack in half and use package tape to secure it to the trash-can lid. The paper sack absorbs the oils of the pad. Every time we open the lid to toss a bag of household garbage, we get a fragrant whiff! — Sandra Jo Williams, Pine Bluff, Ark.

Dear Heloise: Another way to prepare butternut squash is to cut it in half and slice just enough off of the stem end to make it sit up in a pan. Put a pat of butter in the center along with brown or regular sugar with cinnamon and bake at 350 degrees until soft. I sometimes put a few raisins or chopped apple in the center first. — Frances, Belton, Texas

Send a great hint to Heloise, P.O. Box 795000, San Antonio, TX 78279-5000, e-mail it to heloise@heloise.com or fax it to 210-HELOISE.